1 in 80 a member of the incidents cited by the cdc will realize win over educated and under or unemployed adults are brought into the welfare or this is not only an unnecessary but also critically unfair to a large group of people in our society. to prevent the scenario, changes must begin now. mercyhurst is dedicated to preparing ala graduates for productive careers. we have tried to develop partnerships and have with the verizon foundation, and other private donors. the next up for the aim program is to fund and launch the end ship program for seniors and provide -- internship program for seniors and provide programs that prepare them for the workplace. the program has been cited as a model program and has

implemented a majority of the innovative components of the program with limited resources and opportunities beyond the commitment of university. is our hope is strong consideration is made for allocations of government resources to fund programs like the initiative at mercyhurst which assist students not only in achieving a college education, but help them to become productive citizens in our society. as a provider and a father, i strongly feel the need to act now before the task before us becomes insurmountable. thank you again for your time and this opportunity. >> thank you for your testimony. mr. carley i now recognized. >> i would ask for just a little bit of leeway. having only been asked to speak monday morning, i have not had the same ad in time. just a minute or two would be most gracious . boards, i of both my

would like to thank all the members of the committee. i bring two concerns, both of which shed light on a population of people on all sides of the spectrum, and on all sides of the many controversies that exist in the autism-world. i hope to be able to stress the negative consequences on us all when so many are in during financial, logistical, and emotional stresses of a magnitude that might surprise you. my first concern is the more standard apprehension concerning the direction and prioritization of government funding. currently the emphasis is on government research. there is good here as well as fairness, for there is a vastly disproportionate amount of research funding for autism when compared to other conditions. all that said, however, research is based on the future, and not

where our greatest need lies, which is in the present. today, the services we offer our tawdry in comparison to the true need out there now. the majority of families still do not have appropriate services, interventions, or education available to their children. adults on the spectrum are starved for appropriate housing, therapy, and employment opportunities. if fiscal concerns are indeed something which we measure things by, then at let's think about that at all who if they are able in a job employment program to become a taxpaying member of society rather than existing on government support, it seems like a financial no- brainer. for those were not able to board is a bit in programs like that, think of the productivity that is lost because the parents cannot produce like to use to.

why we never considered the fiscal cost of not providing services is still a mystery to me. i disagree with some of the testimony we've had here before. we are not amidst a health crisis -- we are in a services crisis. my second concern has to do with how we implement whatever direction we take in terms of the town or the language being used. tone or language may seem like pc self-help spin to a lot of people, and i understand that. but it is not for someone on the spectrum who grows up having to hear words like to hear, disease, defeat, and combat. words that have no medical basis given the genetic component of autism. although we may improve dramatically, we are born with it, and we will die with it. such negative self-imagery makes self-esteem so much harder to achieve for an individual at

a psychological disadvantage. we have to remember that the majority of this population now can read what is being written about them and hear what is being said about them. as we all grow, whether on the spectrum or not, we need to hear about what we can do, not what we cannot do. autism is simply more complicated than any of us are willing to admit. try as we make, we cannot sloganizing, we cannot done it down. . dumb it down. refusal to except his test -- a competition of suffering amongst ourselves which has made the autism world and its politics the most unhealthy emotional atmosphere you could ask to work in. is this because we are also overwhelmed thanks to ms service needs, to process these different lives in a more productive manner? i think the answer is yes. now, i was lucky.

when my four year-old son and i were diagnosed with's in late 2000, i had a family and career. i was starving playwrights and a minor league diplomat during the day, working in such places as bosnia and iraq, but there was proof that there was a possibility in my son costa agneses. most of the parents might have resorted to praying that the child could have a future. thanks to my analysis and -- diagnosis, i had the advantage of evidence based conviction, not hope. self-esteem was the most formative factor in all of that. granted, i am at one end of the spectrum, and i and a stand that too many parents that will seem like the possible and not the probable. i would never invalidated the prognosis for me was once not so good, nor the my behaviors have not dramatically changed for the better. what is considered probable has

changed immensely over the last 10 years. that is a credit to everybody working in the autism world. self-esteem is one of the most predominant qualities it got me to that point. unlike other people on the spectrum who are brilliant, i do not have that kind of brain. lastly, it is an ethical mistake whenever we sacrifice the possible in the name of the probable. as national nonprofits -- >> one question -- is there one more point, or is this your conclusion? >> this is the conclusion gary . >> take your time -- i did not mean to russia that much, but i thought you had another point. >> as national nonprofits, we have national -- often fail. we have frequently been too hesitant. more damage of the militants -- damaging our the militants to a pandered to their members with

alarmist rhetoric, misinformation, fight talk, and all this is encouraging the search for a bad guy, somebody to blame, thereby pouring gasoline on the fires of the people that are looking to us for leadership instead of helping them with messages of acceptance, respect, openness to a pact that may be different from what we expected, and helping them get the services they need. i ask this administration, as well as our community, to lead and to help these constituents in such a way that was not just be acceptable to the polls or pander to any ill-conceived notion that an injustice was done or that there was something in the water. i cannot and dstress enough my disappointment that the conversation on vaccines is still evidence. >>t. in respect to each of the

panelists -- please appreciate we will take your testimony in its written form and inshore is part of the written record. thank you so much. i recognize you for your testimony. >> thank you. the esteemed members of the committee, my name is ari ne'eman. i represent the autistics of advocacy record, run by and for autistic people. i previously served in the coordinating committee. let me say, as an artistic person and a taxpayer i want to thank you for giving self- advocates a seat at the table today. i would like to begin with a story. earlier this year rose visiting a service provider in new york and i happened to media man my age -- will call him joe. joe is autistic, like me, but unlike me he does not speak. he had come in with his father to try and find a job. i had a chance to sit down with

him and asking questions. joe, despite not speaking, found ways to be very actively involved in the conversation. he pointed at what he was interested in, shook his head at what he was not. yet some people say and few people had ever bothered to pay attention -- nobody had ever given joe the simple support of a communication device. that technology exists and has for years. we just cannot invest in it. i think about joe ayotte at times like this. the current autism research agenda largely ignores his needs. i'm a big believer -- in god we trust, everybody else please bring data. i would like to bring some of the data in the office agenda and show what it shows us. in 2010, nih spent $270 million on autism research. of that, only 2.5% went to research on improving the quality of services. only 1.5% went toward research

on autistic adults and our needs. compare that to the percentage of research agenda focused on causation and biology, the attention paid to the needs of us here today is laughably small. i'm not here to speak for all autistic people -- that is impossible. but i'm here to speak for the right of every autistic person to get the support they need to speak for themselves and not to be written off as victims or burdens. some have tried to justify the lack of attention paid to services and adel issues through talks of an epidemic. i do not happen to subscribe to that theory. but if we wanted to study it and of body weight it scientifically, a very simple step we could take would be to research the prevalence of autism in the adult population. the united kingdom conducted the study and found a common borut of autism in adults as in children.

-- comparable rate of autism in adults as in children. we should do that here and we would gain a viable information. i want to highlight three additional points in my written testimony. i think it is very important to stress that there are really severe racial income and gender disparities in the autism world. african-american children are diagnosed significantly later than caucasian children. department of education data has shown us that low-income and minority youth on the spectrum have the lowest rates of employment and higher education accessed in years after they leave school. we also now gender plays a big role -- before to one ratio of boys to girls being diagnosed is at least partially a self- fulfilling prophecy, with girls less likely to be identified because they do not fit the stereotype. second, it is important we recognize when we talk about autism services we are mostly talking about services for the

war disability, not autism. we have to talk about programs like medicaid. a few words on medicaid in particular -- the majority of disability services are financed through medicaid. if that were block granted or significantly cut, the services would be devastated. i cannot emphasize this enough. ending a robust federal commitment to medicaid means ending any meaningful chance we have to support autistic people. third and finally, i want to stress the importance of building a pathway to employment for my community. our current disability service system makes it very hard for people who want to work to enter the workforce. if you are leaving school, you have to choose between going without support or committing to exit the work force in order to qualify for medicaid. quite frankly, that is bad public policy. if you want autistic people to the taxpaying citizens, and we want to be, we need a service

system that emphasizes employment. the affordable care act has made some progress toward those ends. another good example of what more we could do can be found in the bipartisan collection of bills on a transition for use with disabilities produced by representatives harper and mcmorris rodgers. in closing, i want to point out that his starkly -- historically most mental disabilities have the life cycle. most public attention focuses in the beginning onager and causation. but with time, but advocates and policy makers realize the real issues relate to helping support and extend the civil rights of people today. with autism, that process is still going on, but i am confident because i believe this is a civil rights issue. i believe the united states of america can guarantee the civil rights of all its citizens. thank you very much.

i look forward to your questions. >> thank you mr. ne'eman. thank you to reach of the panelists. in regular order, the chair will recognize mr. burton from indiana. >> first of all, i want to thank you all very much. we talked to those people for three hours and you had to sit there. i want to tell you, i am amazed your posteriors could survive that long. the second thing i would like to say is that abraham lincoln said, let the people know the facts and the country will be saved. one of the things that we have is that i do not think there is enough information getting out to the people who are not effected. i was like that. my grandson became artistic, and then all of a sudden it became a cause for me. i was chairman at the time so i had the resources to do

something about it. i asked my staff -- i want you to get a copy of this whole hearing. everyone of you. you can get it on the internet. governmentoversight.houge.gov. i would urge all of you to disseminate this hearing and get as many people as possible to look at that. more people who know what is going on, the more likely we are to get some kind of positive result out of the fsa and hhs. they did a lot of money over there. i do not know why they cannot allocate more money for this whole issue. that is why it is important to keep beating the drum. i am retiring. this is my last year in office here. i have been here 30 years. i want you to know, any of you that need any of the

organization -- you get a hold of me and i will do everything i can to help. this is something i feel very strongly about. the other thing i want to talk about, we have what is called the vaccine injury compensation fund. it has $2.4 billion in it. it is not being disseminated to people who have damaged children. it is because we have a system that was supposed to be user- friendly that is not user friendly. we have people saying, we cannot prove or make sure that this person deserves any money out of that fund. so i think it is important that we beat the drum on that. there is $2.4 billion in there. there is a lot of money for people who could use it. that was put there by the pharmaceutical companies to help people in a user-friendly way to solve these problems.

that is about all i have to say, except i'm very sympathetic to what you. we have not had i do not know how many hearings over the past decade, but the problems just keep getting worse and worse. we really need you not only to the foot soldiers, but also the people who will lead the charge to make this a cause for everybody, even those who are not affected by autism. it will affect everybody, autism. these people are going to live, as we said before, you are mentioned this, these people are going to live for some time and they're going to be a burden not only on their families but on society. we had people come before our committee -- as children, they would lock the doors when they got out of control. people mortgaged their homes and lost everything they had taken care of kids. that is not widely known. that is why it is important to

keep getting the message out there, for everyone in our society. thank you. >> thank you for your passionate advocacy on this issue for your tenure. we appreciate your leadership. we look forward to hoping we can continue to carry the mantle. at this moment, let me recognize the distinguished ranking member, mr. cummings. >> i want to thank all of you for shedding some much light on the subject. my frustration comes with regard to trying to make sure that we take your pain, as i was telling you, mr. wright, that is now turned into a passion to make sure you carry your purpose to

help the folks you want to help. i am sitting here trying to figure out, how do we effectively and efficiently use your energy and your passion so we get something done? i was listening to you, mr. blaxill. basically, if i understood you correctly, it seems as if you feel that there has been a lot of game play -- i do not know if you use the word fraud, but you came pretty close. you know, as i listen to you, i think about how these numbers are increasing. we are marching into a very,

very serious situation. i know you said do not call it an epidemic or whatever you said, but this is serious stuff. you have got -- i'm just listening to you. i am sure you have got parents who have to give a lot. their productivity is affected. we have got people who are struggling with this, and not getting the services that i guess could make them even more productive, and i right? that is what you are saying? >> it is. i do want to reinforce -- this is in fact very serious. my concern with the rhetoric of epidemic is that it seems to

stand in contravention to a growing amount of science exploring whether or not we are seeing a rise in incidents or a rise in diagnosis, but also i am concerned about the population that the congressman mentioned earlier, many of whom are my members and mr. carley's members who have gone through decades without a diagnosis or who have been misdiagnosed. the perception that autism is some recent new thing has been very damaging, in part because it has meant that when we talk about autistic adults of all, which we do very rarely, we never talk about their needs. we talk about it as something very recently on the horizon, about to be on the horizon. we have to recognize that this is a very serious situation. it is a serious situation now. it is a crisis not for public

health but up on that needs and of human rights. >> that goes to my very question -- tell me the kind of services that are lacking that you would like to see provided? so that we can try and figure out how we can use our dollars effectively and efficiently to not only -- i think it was you, mr. carley, who said, we have to look at the future and do our research. somebody said this. but we also have to make sure that we can do this now. the people in this room, i take it, are going to go home and they are going to have to wrestle with this, with love and affection,. so while -- two situations.

they are reaching into the situation saying, we want to understand what is happening here. we want to know the causes. we want to see if there are cures. we want that. but we also need some help right now, right now. what help is there? i guess that is what i'm trying to get. >> for parents of more challenged children, we are talking about therapy in the home, a variety of educational strategies, an appropriate education, and perhaps just some after care if the child is significantly challenged enough. for someone who is not as challenge, we need more enforcement of ida in the schools. schools are still able to circumvent that -- i know it is budgetary, but it still needs to be fixed. adults need appropriate housing, therapeutic options.

when you grow up living in the behavioral minority and living in a world that confuses you a lot, i do need to talk to somebody about that. especially for adults -- we do find programs. this is not a population of people who are short on principles. it is social deficits, executive function issues -- they can be put to work. if i may backtrack, because again we have heard about prevalence rates and the confusion of where these numbers come from. not once have i heard today the fact that the dsm iv, which constructs the criteria of who deserves a diagnosis, not once has anybody said that one of the reasons for expanding diagnosis was the expanding criteria to what needs a diagnosis. first off, the inclusion of asperger's, in 1994 opened up the book to a plethora of people including myself who never before would have qualified for

an autism spectrum disorder, but even for traditional audits and the definition was changed. i may get these numbers wrong, but in the old book it was six mandatory criteria for a diagnosis of autism. if you got five but not six, back in those days it was mental retardation. now i believe it is eight optional out of a field of 16 possible criteria. that blows those numbers out of the water. >> i see my time is up. >> do you want to be recognized for a minute? mr. blaxill has a quick comment to be made? >> on the service question, if possible. >> we are trying to extend the courtesy to allow this important question. mr. blaxill. >> i want to correct the record. first of all, the one in 88 -- the problem with what the cdc

does is they do not break up the category. we do not even have the tools to support the claim there has been diagnostic expansion making a difference. the extent that there is data in cdc asperger's cdc, is a very small proportion of categorize cases, less than 10%. the notion we have had a diagnostic expansion as an explanation -- dsm iv, when you read what the designers wrote about it, they said it was supposed to be a corrective narrowing of the diagnosis. that was their intention. i think this notion that we have diagnostic expansion is a dangerous one. the other point i want to make -- the great unmentionables, a vaccine and mercury as causation factors. if we have a epidemic, which i think common sense will tell you we have, we have to look at possible candidates which

could possibly explain the inflection point we saw in 1990. so far the best candidates we have our mercury, and there is a lot of evidence that supports mercury as a factor and a damaging factor, and the vaccine issue is a tough one. contrary to what the cdc said, there have been no studies on the total health outcomes of a non of vaccinated population as compared to a vaccinated population. the study done covered only one product. we have not looked at combinations or the totality. the studies are often done poorly. what we saw with the studies the cdc has done, which argue there has been a statistical trickery -- if you look at the record, mercury for example, one paper returns showed 43 out of 58 studies on heavy metals and autism were positive. it is the other 15 we hear about in the press. the scientific record is very

supportive of the environmental concerns families have. it is complicated. there is controversy, obviously, but the notion the controversy is settled and all the evidence is on one side -- that is politics, not an issue of the evidence. >> thank you, mr. blaxill. i now recognize myself for five minutes of questioning. mr. wright, this testimony today has been revealing and in many ways what struck me has been the fact that we have been at this issue for so long and the central divergency been in the scientific definition of where we are, the accurate identification, i think it has been -- you have spent a great deal of your time in this issue. one of the things i was trying to explore, and i know you have been discussing -- we have this

interagency coordinating committee that the government has but it seems to be missing the mark. if we can be so far off on this -- give me your impression of what we should be doing right now. >> what we need is a national strategic plan. there are many government agencies they're doing a lot of good things, but they are not necessarily together. the money is significant that it is not necessarily spent in as thoughtful a way as possible. there needs to be a combination of the cdc, the nih, and the fda as an example. to undertake the correct research, stay with it, especially in safety research on vaccines going forward. it should be an assistant secretary of health -- the title has been around for a long time. somebody has to coordinate this activity and try -- that is where you bring in services.

the nih does not do services. they will tell you that. the cdc does not do services. so you have -- yet it is done inside of the health and human services. it is not coordinated. a national plan, a national strategic plan is what i would advocate to pull that together. it is a very important thing. it also involves continuing medical education, for pediatricians. it also involves going to medical schools. mental conditions occupy a fraction of time at medical school. when people go into practice, what we deal with is a lot of ignorance. that has to be organized. that would be my fondest hope. >> did you have a comment? >> i would suggest with all respect that they do not coordinate.

until we recognize, as mr. wright said, we have to look at this as a national issue. you cannot have a body that is tied into a health research program looking at this whole element of autism. the civil rights issues, service issues -- we do not have a department sitting at the table. >> department of labor might be another suggestion? even the department of justice. >> it has to be a coordinated body. i think they understand that now. but it has to start from the great concept, but it is in the wrong place. it has a -- we have to have a societal commitment that we will address this as a less than issue. until then we will not get anywhere. i -- they never approached us. they're doing a national plan,

you would think they would approach the largest grass-roots organization. they have not approached us -- that is a major problem. >> mr. blaxill, if i understood your testimony, you identified there has been extensive research going on in something you would suggest is not even relevant to the discovery of what is going on -- genetics? >> that is correct. we have spent tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars on the great autism gene hunt, but -- >> who in addition adopt your position? why would that issue not have been raised? >> it comes back to the strategic planning issue. when a group of us push for, the combat and not as an act of 200 6, -- combatin autism act of 2006, one of the key provisions was to make the accounting mechanisms audible to the

public. i spent 25 years in management consulting. if there is anything i can claim to be an expert in, and i hate to invoke expertise, i am an expert in strategic planning. i was asked to board is paid in one of the workshops at nih. -- participate in one of the workshops at nih. >> were you shut out with respect to your commentary? >> it was justification to gather a group of people for a meeting. the leaders did what they wanted to do in the first place anyway. it was not accountable in any meaningful way to the debate. you get into the details, but it was an attempt to defend the status quo. >> my time is up, but one of the things that was clearly stated -- is the intention of the committee to continue this. if you would help us with

identifying the kind of questions you would like to have asked if we had the same individuals from that coordinating committee sitting at this table, that would help us articulate in your voices the kind of inquiry that would produce a result that would help us? i am sympathetic to all your issues on the back and as well, but my time has run out. >> i would suggest the answers might be urgency, goals, milestones, timeframe, and passion -- in that order. >> the chair now recognizes mr. davis. >> thank you very much. i want to wall so command -- also commend all of you for your patience and passion and interest and hope. notwithstanding the frustration

that we all expressed, if you did not think there was some possibility that something could happen you would not be here. that is an indication that wherever there is hope -- i was reminded of a poet who suggested that some people see things that are and ask why, but i dream of things that have never been and asked why not. it seems to me you are saying, why can not we have the services that we need? why can not we have the kind of diagnosis that is accurate and gives us the best chance and best possibility? why can not we even find, although we know it is difficult

-- we know resources are scarce, that money is short. but we also know that priorities use whatever we resources that there are. so you are asking, really, all those questions. i am one who believes that sam cooke was accurate when he wrote the words about change coming. he said, i was borne by the river in a little tent and just like that river i have been running ever since. it may be a long time coming, but i know some change is going to come. i can think of illnesses and the way we have handled them in the past and maybe there was not

much hope. i remember living in a county where there was one physician for the whole county. it took some time, but there is more than one physician in that county now. so quite frankly, you give me a great deal of hope that there is possibility that when we add all of it to gather, and when the american people will have spoken, we will see a move there. we will see some possibility. let me ask you -- you mentioned the whole business of different kinds of disparities, which is something i have been dealing with all of my life. could you speak a little bit

more an elaborate on what those disparities are and how you see them? >> absolutely. so we know that african-american and hispanic children are diagnosed later in life. it was mentioned earlier in the hearing that we see lower rates of diagnosis in the hispanic population, and i really thank you for asking that question, congressman. it gives us opportunity to call attention to the fact that we are not doing a very good job of cultural competency in the diagnosis for english-language learners, racial and ethnic minorities, low income communities, women and girls, and also particularly for adults. when we look at insurance coverage and efforts to address insurance coverage needs for individuals on the autozone spectrum, often the emphasis is very specific -- autism

spectrum, often the emphasis is specific on children and adults are not considered in state laws or federal research efforts. all the statistics you heard earlier focused on a 8-year-old. we do not look at the p population beyond that. i also think you cannot underestimate the role of poverty in this. to me, a disabled person has to choose essentially between access and no support or going on the ssi program, which places extremely draconian limits on the income you can earn and what you can save. people on sii cannot save more than $2,000 in assets. until we address these systemic -- the systemic poverty that forces people with disabilities, including autistic people and our families, to be held behind economically, we will not be able to address the disparities in the autism world.

>> all of those who have come -- please note that there are some individuals in public office who share much of the hope and much of the concern and much of the anxiety that you have expressed. i thank you, mr. chairman, and yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, mr. davis. the chairman recognizes the capacity with which you were able to get back " into the record. the chair now recognizes mr. smith. >> thank you very much. i want to thank our panelists for their wonderful insight and incisive testimony. one of the issues that mr. badesch raises is the increased federal response to the needs of adults living with autism. i think that is echoed by other panelists.

we have not done even a small amount of what we need to be doing to address that issue. i need to focus on older parents -- i think they have few parallels. i have known many autistic families and there is a burden that they carry that is so grossly under appreciated. so many of them do it with such grace and such dignity. great courage -- i think we need to recognize that. what i'm finding, and we all find, is that many of those parents who have older children who are autistic and are no longer children, are adults, are facing a fear they may soon pass on what happens to their child and even the inability to deal with a young man who has strength. i hosted chuck close's daughter, who wrote a wonderful book going

through her life. that is one concern she expressed. perhaps mr. badesch, if you could speak to it as well -- the idea of older parents aging. secondly, mr. wright, if you could speak to -- you laid out five specific pillars for a national strategy. we are in the second decade, obviously. maybe you do not like the language, but my wife has a severe and unity disease, a severe case of it. cure -- webout duria mean it. i understand you are coming from, but i think that is a way of razzing people. but mr. wright, if you could speak to the five. and talk about older parents and

children. >> on the table now there are two service issues in front of congress. one of them is the able act, which is not confined to autistic children. that has 240 co-sponsors in the house and cannot get to the floor. but you only need 218 votes. so i would urge you to try to get that to the floor and get that passed. that is something that can help families, especially working on aging children when the parents are able to put some money into that account. the second one is there is sitting out here now -- autism insurance for home or office or what ever in 32 states, covering 75% of the population of the country. that has to be brought back here to congress so the companies that are exempt from that, the

largest companies in the country which occupy roughly half of the population -- we now have half the working population in the smaller companies protected, but not the larger ones. that has to be done by congress. that has to get on the table. in past years that was not difficult. it is a equity issue. is madras restore that is local has coverage. -- a small grocery store that is local has coverage, but a large store does not. to give families service opportunities and hopefully reduce their debt burden, and especially the planning issue. housing is an enormous issue. we are going about it on a state-by-state basis. i do not know how to bring that to the federal bachmann at this point in time, but it -- government at this time, but it is going to be coordinated. >> i would mention one of the things with aging parents. we now have a large group of

individuals in their 80's and 90's to our primary caretakers for an adult child who is 60 or 70. it is a major issue. sometimes when that person needs a caretaker, the caretaker -- they have to be put on a waiting list and it could be fiber six years, which makes no sense to us. the other issue is we need to do a better job of working with as parents and providing more options. the lack of housing for adults, in particular with a community setting, until we start recognizing -- and again, this is a civil rights issue. housing authorities, when they confine disability services to having a handicap ramps they are falling short. those responsible need to make those services available -- it will make it easier for an adult

with a child. >> i want to make a point about aging and services -- if we think about the inflection point, the increased rate of autism around 1990 or thereabouts, that was 22 years ago. what we are looking at, the leading edge of the epidemic is 22 years old. those kids are just now leaving the special education system. they are well cared for in their families by and large, but as they age out we are facing a tsunami of unmet needs for services, desperate families, aging parents, and the nightmare of every parent, late at night when you are talking about these things, is what happens when i die? what is going to happen to my child when i die?

the vast majority of these children cannot advocate for themselves or when they become adults will be disabled and dependent. they can be abused, taken advantage of and not care for. with often tragic outcome is. we have begun to see the wave of difficulties we are going to face if we have a rational -- if we have a rational policy, we need to face up for that. it will be a national problem. >> the chair will indulge you -- >> quickly, you mentioned in the study, and i invited cdc to the township. they rolled out there was an environmental cause. you mentioned there is a black balling. could you elaborate on that? >> i could certainly provided

for the record. we have all sorts of private conversations with scientists. we wish we had the resources -- i know bob is an advocate of environmental research, but we would love to see more from autism speaks. we do a modest amount. we're in contact with scientists. private conversations to have a scientist -- there are politically incorrect issues. there are career consequences for doing a certain kind of study. there have been a ritual punishments of certain scientists out there, some very public, some more private. and there are innumerable examples of those. when the scientists said, let the scientists take care of that, it is not a self regulating process.

in fact, the leaders of nih in force the orthodoxy of the scientific establishment. if you take on third real questions they are suppressed. we had many examples -- i could provide some more. >> thank you, mr. smith. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. >> mr. davis made a good point when he talked about the sam cooke son. most of our lives, the change usually occurs at a time of tragedy or crisis. i want to redirect a little bet -- mr. mcgarry is here from mercyhurst. mercyhurst recognize a long time ago, the mid-1980s -- then in 2009 you piloted the aim program. would you share a little bit with us what you have been able to do -- you have presented

internationally what mercyhurst is doing and some of the innovations you brought in. if you would tell us how you shared some of that information, how you are able to disseminate to other people. once you become aware, we can fix things. we had a chance to see that today. i admire what you have done, not only in your academic life but in your personal life. if you could share a little bit with the people mercyhurst here eople is doing in the aim program. >> two parts of the question. what are we doing to disseminate information? mercyhurst participated in pennsylvania -- we had the opportunity to have the inaugural conference on autism and higher education. mercyhurst and fiber six other institutions presented on some of -- and a five or six other

institutions presented. 32 colleges or universities were represented in the audience to learn what they could do to start implementing some of the programming and things we are offering. what we are offering at mercyhurst is not rocket science. it is not a brand new treatment option. some folks have talked about applied behavioral analysis. we have collaborated with our program at mercyhurst. but we are doing a lot of trapping and looking at the students and saying, we have identified four main demands that we feel are very essential for our students in the academic setting as well as vocation. their academic social progress, independence, social and emotional -- we try to track those things specifically because what we are finding is that our students are lacking or having difficulty on those domains. the probability they will be

successful in the higher education setting and or a vocational setting drastically decreases. so we are going to continue to kind of work on that. another thing we are doing is there is a pure mentoring program. what we found as many of the students in our program have been in that mentoring partnerships but have never been the mentor. we recently implemented a pierre mentoring program where programpeer mentoring -- peer mentoring program, but it will also be going to social service agencies in erie that have other folks who have severe disabilities and going in as a mentor to them to say, i have accomplished something, i am a college student. people said i would never be here and i am -- i want to help you in what obstacles the need

to face and get you through those obstacles. those of some of the things we're doing. >> we talked about employment opportunities. the idea that -- these are folks who can live a very productive life. they can be a big part of what we do as a country. i think it is the awareness. i really appreciate you coming here today in what you have done with your life. the more we become aware, the more we understand how to handle it, the more we can adapt and bring these people in. there is a light at the end of the tunnel on this. you want to talk about being successful -- the 24% are actually employed now. a lot of adults cannot get work. a bit of that impact and what we could do to change that. i think there is a great opportunity. these people, to get up in the morning and they cannot wait. >> absolutely.

i think our vocational and are internship -- unfortunately we have a stigma and are working with students to have autism -- some of the vocational opportunities presented to mercyhurst are far beyond the skills and caliber of weston's can achieve. -- what our students can achieve. we need to have a strong awareness as other panelists have said. autism is not necessarily an intellectual issue. if we can train and work on some of the social skills and executive functioning, they can fart succeed expectations and do some jobs much better than the rest of us. we need to train society to understand that and give the students specific skills to accomplish them. >> would you share the conversation we had? the professor was giving them an

assignment -- i thought that was absolutely phenomenal. by itsnnot tell a book cover. share that -- i thought that was really uplifting. >> i had in the aim program -- we sent a letter to every single faculty member stating that this student in your class is being supported by the asperger's initiative, and if you or that students need resources we are available. the faculty member contacted me on the second or third day of class and said, this student, i explained an assignment that was worth 60% of the great in my course. the student looked at me and i am not sure if he understood a word of what i was saying. so can you work with him and help me work with them? that assignment was supposed to take 10 weeks. the student, the following tuesday, turned the assignment in and the professor said it was the most incredible piece of

student graphic art he had scene in 25 years. we know there is a misrepresentation from what we think is being heard and what is being processed, and the caliber of students we are working with. >> think you for being here and dedicating your life to making sure these people do have a light. thank you so much, and i yield back. >> as promised, this was a long and well worthwhile hearing. we learned a great many things that both we and the public or not aware of. we did not have an opportunity to hear from witnesses who had genetic links that they could see in their own family. we certainly did not hear from the witnesses who are women recognized in their own lives that the under evaluation because of perhaps differences in behavior between men and women lead their to be a discrepancy in recognition and a discrepancy in perceived challenge to women versus man.

we certainly learned that the state of utah has found a way to identify different or better or more than other states. we certainly learned that in fact a discovery system is not going to get us or any other country in the world to an accurate number or to seek out people we could help and help early. this and more will be things this committee will continue working on as part of the legacy of my predecessor. there is nothing we heard today that is off-limits for us to continue to explore. this committee stands ready to take your additional comments and questions as promised. this is a c-span audience -- we may get additional letters. we will make sure to include those in the record whenever possible. i do not believe we covered every interest group, either with our witnesses or here today.

because there are so many organizations involved that want to be heard, i would only ask all of you, when you work with other organizations or groups or individuals, that you explain to them that this committee will have a permanent staffing at least as long as i'm chair to try to make sure to continue to consolidate the information and get government to do its job more effectively, efficiently, and if at all possible, continue dealing with all aspects of this disease. with that, the committee stands adjourned. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] >> coming up tonight on c-span, an update on negotiations of the so-called fiscal cliff. first we hear from house speaker john boehner after meeting with treasury secretary tim geithner. that is followed by house democratic leaders after their meeting. then, senate democrats explain what they're looking for in negotiations with republicans.

friday on "washington journal," a congressional this story and gives a history of the filibuster rule in the senate and explains the changes senate leader harry reid is pursuing. then austin tell us less starting at 7:00 eastern on c-span. -- washington journal is live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> we had 2000 flag officers and generals. today we had one dozen flak officers and generals. the ratio is out of whack. it is not a captain, and a battle of.

we look at where we can not only save the money, but we can transfer responsibilities at of the pentagon and consolidate programs and serious significant amount of money. >> this weekend you can talk about tom coburn above the fiscal cliff and the republican party in "in the." on c-span 2. >> his comments, the same day timothy geithner made the rounds on capitol hill, visiting with

house and senate leaders, this is 10 minutes. >> the president has warned us about going over the fiscal cliff. his actions have not matched his public statements. members of his own party some quite comfortable with the sending his party over the fiscal cliff. two 6 ago had a comfortable conversation and the white house. i would say two thanks. despite declines the president supports a balanced approach, the democrats have it to its various a barrel spending cuts. secondly, no progress has been made in the talks over the last a of weeks. this is not a game. jobs are on the line.

the american economy is on the line. this is a moment for american leadership. it is the way ticket it done until washington. a mature0 lead and a had a meeting with his secretary. it was frank and d -- it was frank and direct. we saw to find out what the president is really willing to do. i remain hopeful that productive conversations can be made it into the it is ahead. elicited a leadership team met with a risk in bull's and leadership is above the business approach the warehouse as an annoyance. i have made clear that we have made the concessions on the line by putting ravenna's up front. many democrats grow up dozens of

booklets that must be part of a sensible agreement that will reduce the deficit. there has been a sensible spending cuts so far. 2 there is a real danger of a2 and of222222222222222222222222222222 222222222222. 22222222222222222222222222222222 2222222222222222222222222 caught22222222222222222222222222 222222222222222222222222222222 job222222222222222. 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222222222222222222222 22222222222222 economy and protect american jobs and prote. this will be impossible to address the debt crisis. to get our economy again and get american jobs. all eyes are on aq whitehouse.

the country does not it a victory lap, the country needs leadership. it is time to say what they will retake. a will take to questions. >> and have cut to the president of many of them. the catholic where we have the outline the various proposals. we know what the menu is. we do not know is with what house is willing to do to hit -- to some of the ticket prices. >> i am not to going to get into the details, but as a very clear

what kind of spending cuts they to occur. we have no idea with the warehouse is willing to do. >> most public statements of been public, hopeful. i you backing away from tux? >> a have to tell you. so disappointed again to where we are. where we are in the last couple of weeks. during of with a fiscal policy is serious business. i am trying to resolve it. a would hope to win house of the service as well. >> k taught us something about a phone call between president

last night. >> we had a very nice conversation last night that was direct and straightforward. the assessment i give the today would be a product of both of the conversations. >> how much would he be open to the addition of discretionary spending cuts as a down payment to get to a longer range spending reform? >> a lot of options are on the table including that one. >> you are eight of thing -- >> the day after the election, i came here and made it clear that republicans would put on evidence of the table would begin to move the process to give the results. >> witnesses do you have for people looking and and negotiating position question but they believed to as the

inevitable that he will have to give compromise on tax rates? >> revenue is on the table. there are serious spending cuts as part of the agreements. we have a debt crisis. we are spending too much. we have to recognize that sizzle the spending that is out of control. >> what size spending cuts do you think it would take to reach a deal of the fiscal of question mike do you think the promise has to be included at interest deal? >> i do not think it is so important for a visit to the of what the spending cuts ought to be. terra a lot of options have you can get there. the second part of the question was, -- >> do you think the promise of spending cuts has to be included

in a deal that averts the fiscal close? >> there is a from mark we presented two weeks ago. it has been agreed to in terms of a downpayment that would include spending cuts and revenue. the entitlement reform, and tax reform next year. this is way out of balance. not a recognition on the part of the white house. a spending problem that we have. >> the prospect of going over the fiscal close. which one would you choose? what's of will do everything i can to avoid putting the american economy and the american people through the

fiasco of going over the fiscal cliff. as i told the president a couple of weeks ago, there are in a glut of things i have wanted a detriment of, but almost all of them had a price tag attached to them. if we're going to talk above the debt limit, there will be depressed as a seated with it. i continue to believe any increase until the debt limit meats are exceeded.

>> could after an in. we have just had a meeting with the secretariat of the treasury. it was a very productive meeting. this does not have to be a cliffhanger. it has already passed the senate. democrats are prepared to vote for it. we urge our republican colleagues and the house. let's give a christmas present to the republican people. this confidence that will give them as consumers will give confidence to the markets as well. the president has been clear, and we support him on holding firm to the expiration of tax

cuts making 200 to dozen dollars a year. that would be part of a package. we have already voted for cut. revenues are needed and a job creation is needed in reducing the deficit. every bipartisan task force commissioned, you name it that has come together, you cannot get there from here in terms of deficit reduction and the fiscal soundness without have agaves the on the table. >> i think this meeting is very

fruitful. it is reminding us of why we are here. the time for posturing is over. we are at into the holiday season when people would love to return to their families with some certainty. i think we ought to give them that. it is very easy to do. the president has laid out a plan. the plan received a majority vote. it is better than 3 million voters. we also ran with the president on this plan of his. we received, democrats, as

almost 1 million no votes than the republicans did it. within the time for posturing is over. we ought to get serious about doing what is necessary for the american people to get confidence maintained until this process. i would like to yield to the chair. >> and agree with what was just said by the leader. i would add that it is really is simple math. or we heard from the secretary added up. it is a bold and added plan that could get the signature and of votes of our colleagues bipartisan way. this should not be a cliffhanger. faults some of the approaching christmas by not knowing if awarded the work done. our colleagues on this and, if

they're not willing to move forward with a balanced plan, let us vote here in the house of representatives. protection for the middle class from same the brakes address for them. this tenacity holiday costs rise. levy yield to the ranking member of the budget. >> thank you. a couple of points tobacco to my colleagues. the president he has on -- he has had his plan and the budget for over a year. it provides difficult cuts with revenues by asking a higher income individuals to contribute a little bit more. it is right there.

republicans made some positive noises, but they have not put their plans on the table. we are asking them, what have they got? i hope there are not fearful of engaging the american public and enter this conversation. the president is talking to congressional leaders. he wants to have a conversation with the american people. what is at stake affects your future and your lives. i am curious to hear republican colleagues complain. i would like to introduce the ranking member of the ways and means committee. >> i think we all agree the it was a productive session. i can sum it up briefly.

the president went out and run on a clear message, past the middle income tax cut, addressed the of the needs. that is the first order of business. we need to address the longer- term. let us to the short term and avoid the fiscal cliff. at this country should not go over the cliff. everybody has a responsibility to make sure that does not happen. steve israel, who gave a splendid job, you can attest the clarity of the message. >> the administration and the president are working diligently to advance an agreement. democrats are ready and willing to compromise.

we have to have people to compromise with. republican friends have shown an unwillingness to compromise. and they continue to stand by and ask us to advance issues is that making contributions to this solution. this is not difficult to arise at. one of the reasons people are associated with is they see washington and people agreeing on everything and nothing gets done. we know how to get this done. everything agrees we should pass the middle class tax cuts. we can do that tomorrow. we want to do it. all it will take is for them to say, let's do this and deal with other issues down the line. people are talking about the

fiscal cliff on january 1. let's give businesses the service. their employees can pass the middle income tax cut now. >> i would like to add that basarah were sar participants in the discussion. when they went to the table as representatives of the house democrats, the next -- no instructions except to reach an agreement. the overriding value was to get the jobs done for the american people.

the only thing i said i wanted to say was jobs and economic growth would be the centerpiece of the discussion. whatever decisions we would unmake as far as cuts and revenue or raising them with center around how we create jobs. that is how we will reduce the deficit by creating jobs. every time we came to the idea of bold balance, the rivet a question was the hurdle and it is still does. we cannot get there from here in terms of deficit reduction. you can grow your way he to there, but you have to have the revenue as a confidence-building that we are responsible. we will get the job done. he had ended their meeting to go to so he is not here with us

now. why am i confident? it is the right thing to do. americans deserve this to happen. it is only the decision to make tough choices. this is not easy. it is necessary. i have confidence that my republican colleagues will see the light and pass a middle income tax cut so they can go from there. >> we want the whole package, of course. the easiest thing to send a message to the public that the middle income tax cuts will continue is to pass the bill. this is stage one.

we would like to see a multi trillion dollar stage one with substantial cuts. we have already passed over one trillion dollars. the expiration of the high and tax cuts, we want the growth. we want infrastructure or something. that is step one. in terms of what we do to strengthen entitlements or reforming the tax code or making for the cut, we can do that and to the next congress and soon. this is it copens the road it too much more. >> i hope when you ask the republicans, is that the way to

negotiate by taking things off of the table? things that have bipartisan support? it is sitting here at and to the house and the tax the middle class by preserving tax cuts for them. if the speaker can just say no, you have a negotiation platform where everybody says no and protect their income. you have to have everything on the table. the president and democrats have put everything on the table, but we are willing to be balanced and fair. for anyone to have a precondition and say, no, it is and no to something that passed on a bipartisan basis, that makes it tough to negotiate a bipartisan deal.

>> i do think there are a number of people led into of the caucus coming forth and saying they need -- to get back to what mr. israel said. those engaged the in negotiations, it is hard to negotiate with somebody who does not want anything. of what they want is a tax cuts for the wealthiest people addendum of the country and and they will hold tax cuts hostas for that. that is not a negotiation. that is hostage taking. i do not think that is where republicans addition to the country are. it is important for the republicans to have this conversation with the american

people so they understand what the tauruses are here. with the payroll tax holiday, the president wanted it. republicans held, merry christmas. a payroll tax holiday. >> i think we are confident we will find a way to prevent us from going over the fiscal clef because the americans want us to do a balanced approach. imagine this scenario. we arrived they were first and we have there were a second, january 3, and speaker john boehner will be saying the reason taxes went up on 98% of the people -- the reason nobody had the first and, was because

he and his caucus were holding out for a caucus tax break for the highest and commerce. if you think about it and in those times, how they will explain to the american people why he is preventing the country from moving forward and getting tax relief because he is holding out for the highest income earners, i think his members are -- the of looking into the future. that is what people like tom cole are saying, it is and unsustainable position. it does that make common sense to the american people and is that makes sense to others like him. people who are able to look forward and make an

unsustainable position. >> i think everybody should go back to the cbo report in terms of the economic consequences of the cliff. it is on behalf of the and pat on our gdp. the upper end come is one-tenth of 1% in terms of economic impact. one-tenth of 1%. it is not a question of buckling, it is a question of listening to the american people. >> i would like to close by saying a lot has been said about what will happen if we go over the cliff. let's talk about what will happen if we do not. the consequence the markets see.

the confidence they have we can get a job done here. that is important. it is about the creation and growth that is so important. a job as the best answer to every challenge that a family has. it is of a great way to relieve the federal budget of the social services necessary. it is the dignity of work and rewarding it and the furnace and the tax code of the test ticking as to the clinton tax rates. others can speak to what it was under reagan, but the clinton tax rates that enabled the price sector to create 20 a and jobs and unable the success to thrive in our country, i think it comes

down to the question, we say to the speaker of the house, the senate has passed a bill to increase middle-class tax cuts. democrats are ready to support it. why? why are you holding this up? thank you. >> for more information about the fiscal clef, visit our web site c-span.org. >> friday on washington and now,norman ornsteein..

tax credits on family and businesses that would be impacted if congress does not impact the fiscal cliff. >> the program began, one of the and as as to president franklin roosevelt, to document conditions under which people were living. this is when we did talk have television. have of places didn't electricity said they couldn't listen to the radio broadcasts to find out what was happening and a parts of the country. he was the head of this project.

1939 when kodak had a color film, he had his photographers tried out. kodak was trying to estimate was a new market, a new product, and they wanted people who knew how to use it effectively to try it out and publicize it. >> american artifacts, sunday at 7:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv. >> harry reid end of the democratic leaders briefed reporters on negotiations on the fiscal cliff compromise. lawmakers have until december to negotiate a deal that would avert the tax decreases that

would affect in january. this is 20 minutes. >> i had a nice meeting a separate that are this morning. i always enjoyed meeting with him. democrats are on the same page. freezing the texas for the first for. letting the rich go up to the sum of aware for the clinton cabinet permission. republicans know where we stand. we have said it so many times. it has been at least two weeks since met at the warehouse. now is the time for republicans to move past the happy talk.

to put specifics of the table. the president made his proposal. we need a proposal from him. the rest of the glove there are a reasonable republicans britain from the pack. do members have said this and sang it. they should bring to the floor of the house the bill does pass over here would pass a center of the press today. the house republicans, if it would simply allow a vote. we're not going to kick the can down the road. we will finalize this this year. the american people want us to avoid the fiscal cliff with a balanced approach the average middle-class family looking at a tax increase of $2,200 looking

in january 1. we will not let that happen. if that happens will be under the leadership of john boehner. we will protect the middle- class. to force a balanced agreement we need republicans to come forward with something. it is time for republicans to do something. that is a balanced statement. the vast majority of democrats support. republican support this proposal. republicans need to show us they can help lead this country. >> we can debate within the november 6 election was a band- aid, but i do not think we can

debate it was a work order. roll up your sleeves and work together and solve the problems. we get the message. did speaker banner get the message? what we hear is pain and frustration and annexed dealing with the tea party. there comes a part where he needs to look to the house and the nation. he has a responsibility. it will protect 98% of americans for a vote again to the house of representatives. he can do it before we break for christmas. he conceded those fortunate enough will pay a little more. working families across the board will be protected. that is what we've asked for. we realize this needs to be done on a bipartisan basement.

what the solution of the to the house of representatives need to be bipartisan as well? i do not want to hear about the ton if speaker, this film's pass this, let me tell you where the pan will be. the loss of consumer caucus and the stock market going down at a time we are looking for recovery. it is time for speaker job in a to listen to the public. >> based on the update he has provided us, i think all of us today are confident we can reach a bipartisan agreement on christmas time. i am optimistic. we do not expect republicans to be enthusiastic and start she

leading a deal that raises taxes on the wealthiest americans. they would not can see on this this far out from the deadline. but they see the handwriting on the wall. yesterday we met with business theaters were part of the fix the debt coalition. we urged the ceos to help convince us for higher revenues and rates on the wealthy. i think tom cole's comments as a watershed. i think he said would a lot of republicans -- >> two members of the hard right, senate to a timmy said it

would not be a violation of the republican tax pledge to amend the tax cuts. they're trying to figure out the rationale. the figure out and into their heads they have to agree with our position. yesterday they declared of the republican settled for the offer on taxes, that would be a victory for can serve a tense. -- conservatives. this sounded like an attempt for a soft landing for republicans on taxes. we were very happy with any rationale that helps republicans accept decoupling of tax cuts. speaker banner said there is no process, all you have to do is

listen to what is happening out there. you know there is process. in 2010 we had to realize cuts, close to one trillion dollars in cuts. the election said, raised copper it's on the highest income people. our democracy works enough that they would have no choice but to go along with that. it is clear where things stand meeting with bipartisan leadership, all sides agreed on a firm market encountered a down payment to reassure the markets. we refused to take everything at the june 2013. for the tax portion of the down payment, the decoupling of is the right way to bring an

revenue. if republicans was to have a spending cut component, fine. the ball is in their court. we have been specific about the appointment. what is theirs? we would like to see the specifics. we have been very specific. so far they have not offered a single idea. short of capturing medicare, that we know is off the table. even at mitt romney denied that one. if republicans insist on spending cuts being part of the down payment, the onus is on them to come forward with ideas. containsdent's budget 300 billion in savings. it is silly to think the

president will negotiate with himself on entitlements. we done that would not happen. we are waiting for specifics somewhere from republican colleagues to show they're serious on negotiations. >> three weeks ago people sent a message, democrats to our set candidates and built campaigns are run the idea of budgets have to work for middle-class. republican campaigns were clear, too. their commitment to protecting the rich, the ryan but it was on the ballot and it was rejected. the american people voted for candidates who committed to fighting for the middle-class. it was clear they agreed with democrats the what they have to participate and pay the fair share. it is finally encouraging to

hear republicans are too soft and rhetoric when it comes to crashes on the rich. i am hopeful the to the a lesson. republicans fought to protect the rich from paying a penny more addition to taxes. we are hearing republicans bring out a once separate pledge. they are talking about cutting revenue on the table. we heard from one republican who made a common-sense proposal the house passed a senate bill to extend tax cut to 98% of workers and then have a debate about tax cuts for the rich. republican rhetoric has moved again to the right directions and we are looking in the right

directions it should follow. it would allow us to remove a significant chunk of the fiscal clef for the middle-class, families knowing taxes will not go up. i am confident once we pass a middle-class tax cuts, both sides agree it should happen, we listen to the american people, democrats have been very clear that we are willing to make tough compromises that a balanced and bipartisan bill requires. democrats will not allow deficit reduction to be borne solely on the backs of seniors and it the middle class. thank you.

>> [indiscernible] we are not going to negotiate with us. that's it which it revert back to be sent explant that we had when clinton was president. protect those who make less of some dollars a year. we will not get into rounds of talks. they talked about all kinds of things. we have had talks with eric cantor and joe biden. we have had owles simpaon.

let them come forward with something. the issue is pretty simple. you cannot get it from here to there unless you raise the upper rates. that is what the president suggested. it is up to them to come up was something else. i am not trying to be rude to you, but i just answered that question. we have made our proposal. the president met in a proposal. we would not negotiate. >> we know raising the top rates

is about one trillion dollars. we can go from there. that is where we are. that is the proposals the president made. >> if it came to it, at do you think to have the votes to pass the vote? >> at the meeting we had and enter the warehouse with foreign leaders and president, he said would never would come up with, there will be an agreement and they did stealing or there will be no agreement. we are all experienced. wyatt in of the world would we agree to something for one month or two and have an committee and to petition and the government? that is part of the program.

>> your position and of the seven democrats prefer a stand alone bill raising the top rate. if i have that right -- >> there is a stand-alone bill. if we do nothing, the rates go up. >> you just do a rise on the top for it's not and discuss it at into the second half. we are seeing a extended tax cuts for the middle class. we are working for republicans to come forward with something. >> the first step was each second down with a downpayment because we have to have something significant done. we are still waiting for theirs. but it is about three weeks we have been waiting.

>> speaker pinner -- speaker john boehner but it clear -- >> i do not understand his brain so you should ask him. >> i think it sends its greatness is to the american people. these two and was involved in a bid to a election for president. they will sit down and have lunch together after the election, after he won. i think this is great. none of us have any ill will toward mitt romney. we were involved in a campaign.

it is over with. i am glad to see this picture. it is over with. >> i know i worked hard on the iran sanctions. it has bowed over into a rock-- iraq. i cannot respond that specifically. does it have the some keyboard? >> it looks like as we have republicans talking about spending cuts, there is going to be additional spending outside

the budget from mark for the response for a hurricane. where do you stand on that question might well the you be on that? " the of looking for a supplemental from the president friday, monday, or tuesday. we have had gov. christie come for it. new york people have come back. whatever we do here will not be the last supplemental. i met with mayor bloomberg. it is hard for me from a sparsely populated state to talk about hundreds of thousands of people who do not have a place to live. this is something i think is important that we do. we want to make sure the numbers

are a a in of the ballpark. it is something that need not be paid for. i hope that is the case. if it were an emergency, this is at. >> last night senators menendez and i spent an hour in my office with sean donovan. we are laying out specifically to the administration what we need in terms of number and flexibility. the maximum that fema gives cannot rebuild houses. we need help. we need flexibility that we cannot propose any more. our meetings have done very well. we expect a supplemental with

full administration support monday or tuesday. >> friday, a history of the filibuster rule on the senate. key tax credits aimed at families and businesses that would be impacted of congress did not act on the fiscal cliff. washington general is live at 7:00 eastern on c-span. >> at the end of world war ii, we had 12 million men under arms.

today we have 1000 generals and 1.2 million under arms. we almost have an admiral forever ship in the navy. what we have done is gone through and look at areas where we could not necessarily save all of the money but transfer of responsibilities out of the pentagon and consolidate programs and save a significant amount of money. >> this weekend you can talk with tom coburn of the future of the republican party on and depth. live sunday at noon eastern on but tv.

>> the program began, one of the of as as to president franklin roosevelt. to document the conditions under which people were living. this was when we did not have television. a lot of places did not have electricity said it could not listen to the radio broadcast to find out what was going on and other parts of the country. an economist from columbia, he is the head of this project. they sent from to have his photographers try out and see what they could do. kodak was trying to establish a new market and product. they wanted people who would

know how to use it effectively to publicize it. >> america comes to life and the life of the camera. american artifacts, sunday at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 eastern on c-span 3. >> vice president joe biden at costco. he bit remarks about the fiscal cliff and middle-class tax cuts.

>> thank you for coming along.

these are hard-working people who do not need it the taxes to go up. the truth of the matter is, it will make a big difference. costco has hired 216 employees and then to of this new store. a renaissance of this neighborhood. consumers have money in their pocket to go out and supported their families in terms of christmas gifts they want to buy. i met with people. three of them said we are in the red nine months a year and we count on three months to put us ahead into the black. it is important congress acts right now. they have to take a single vote to extend the middle-class tax cut. if we go over the fiscal cliff, it has been estimated $200

billion less will be spent next year. you will have people having their taxes go up every year. we have a lot we have to settle. there is one thing we have to agree on. the middle tax cut should be made permanent. we are fully prepared to work with our republican colleagues to make sure we do with the rest of the fiscal cliff. that would take $900 million of the clifford now. look a round here. consumer confidence is growing. the last thing we need to do is- that by not extending the middle-class tax cuts. thank you for shopping with me. thank you very much.

>> president obama hosted mitt romney for lunch on monday. gov. romney is said to have congratulated the president and the two ate lunch and had a discussion that lasted an hour. >> congressional historian norma rnstein explains why congress is pursuing. >> the program began, he was

when the the advises, to document the conditions under which people were living. this was when we did not have television. we had radio, but a lot of places didn't have electricity. they cannot listen to the radiobroadcast. an economist from columbia was the head of this project. 1939 when kodak introduced color film, they sent found to have as photographers try out and see what they could do. kodak was trying to establish a new market and product. they wanted people who would know how to use it effectively to try it out and publicize it.

.

your testimony.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2012] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> one of the things i was trying to explore, and i know you have been discussing -- we have this interagency coordinating committee that the government has but it seems to be missing the mark. if we can be so far off on this -- give me your impression of what we should be doing right now. >> what we need is a national strategic plan. there are many government agencies they're doing a lot of good things, but they are not necessarily together. the money is significant that it is not necessarily spent in as thoughtful a way as possible.

there needs to be a combination of the cdc, the nih, and the fda as an example. to undertake the correct research, stay with it, especially in safety research on vaccines going forward. it should be an assistant secretary of health -- the title has been around for a long time. somebody has to coordinate this activity and try -- that is where you bring in services. the nih does not do services. they will tell you that. the cdc does not do services. so you have -- yet it is done inside of the health and human services. it is not coordinated. a national plan, a national strategic plan is what i would advocate to pull that together. it is a very important thing. it also involves continuing medical education, for pediatricians. it also involves going to medical schools.

mental conditions occupy a fraction of time at medical school. when people go into practice, what we deal with is a lot of ignorance. that has to be organized. that would be my fondest hope. >> did you have a comment? >> i would suggest with all respect that they do not coordinate. until we recognize, as mr. wright said, we have to look at this as a national issue. you cannot have a body that is tied into a health research program looking at this whole element of autism. the civil rights issues, service issues -- we do not have a department sitting at the table. >> department of labor might be another suggestion? even the department of justice. >> it has to be a coordinated body.

i think they understand that now. but it has to start from the great concept, but it is in the wrong place. it has a -- we have to have a societal commitment that we will address this as a less than issue. until then we will not get anywhere. i -- they never approached us. they're doing a national plan, you would think they would approach the largest grass-roots organization. they have not approached us -- that is a major problem. >> mr. blaxill, if i understood your testimony, you identified there has been extensive research going on in something you would suggest is not even relevant to the discovery of what is going on -- genetics? >> that is correct. we have spent tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars on the great autism gene hunt, but --

>> who in addition adopt your position? why would that issue not have been raised? >> it comes back to the strategic planning issue. when a group of us push for, the combating autism act of 2006, one of the key provisions was to make the accounting mechanisms audible to the public. i spent 25 years in management consulting. if there is anything i can claim to be an expert in, and i hate to invoke expertise, i am an expert in strategic planning. i was asked to board is paid in one of the workshops at nih. -- participate in one of the workshops at nih. >> were you shut out with respect to your commentary?

>> it was justification to gather a group of people for a meeting. the leaders did what they wanted to do in the first place anyway. it was not accountable in any meaningful way to the debate. you get into the details, but it was an attempt to defend the status quo. >> my time is up, but one of the things that was clearly stated -- is the intention of the committee to continue this. if you would help us with identifying the kind of questions you would like to have asked if we had the same individuals from that coordinating committee sitting at this table, that would help us articulate in your voices the kind of inquiry that would produce a result that would help us? i am sympathetic to all your issues on the back and as well, but my time has run out. >> i would suggest the answers might be urgency, goals, milestones, timeframe, and

passion -- in that order. >> the chair now recognizes mr. davis. >> thank you very much. i want to wall so command -- also commend all of you for your patience and passion and interest and hope. notwithstanding the frustration that we all expressed, if you did not think there was some possibility that something could happen you would not be here. that is an indication that wherever there is hope -- i was reminded of a poet who suggested

that some people see things that are and ask why, but i dream of things that have never been and asked why not. it seems to me you are saying, why can not we have the services that we need? why can not we have the kind of diagnosis that is accurate and gives us the best chance and best possibility? why can not we even find, although we know it is difficult -- we know resources are scarce, that money is short. but we also know that priorities determine how we use whatever resources that there are. so you are asking, really, all those questions. i am one who believes that sam cooke was accurate when he wrote the words about change coming.

he said, i was borne by the river in a little tent and just like that river i have been running ever since. it may be a long time coming, but i know some change is going to come. i can think of illnesses and the way we have handled them in the past and maybe there was not much hope. i remember living in a county where there was one physician for the whole county. it took some time, but there is more than one physician in that county now.

so quite frankly, you give me a great deal of hope that there is possibility that when we add all of it to gather, and when the american people will have spoken, we will see a move there. we will see some possibility. let me ask you -- you mentioned the whole business of different kinds of disparities, which is something i have been dealing with all of my life. could you speak a little bit more an elaborate on what those disparities are and how you see them? >> absolutely. so we know that african-american and hispanic children are diagnosed later in life. it was mentioned earlier in the hearing that we see lower rates of diagnosis in the hispanic population, and i really thank you for asking that question, congressman.

it gives us opportunity to call attention to the fact that we are not doing a very good job of cultural competency in the diagnosis for english-language learners, racial and ethnic minorities, low income communities, women and girls, and also particularly for adults. when we look at insurance coverage and efforts to address insurance coverage needs for individuals on the autism spectrum, often the emphasis is specific on children and adults are not considered in state laws or federal research efforts. all the statistics you heard earlier focused on a 8-year-old. we do not look at the population beyond that. i also think you cannot underestimate the role of poverty in this. to me, a disabled person has to choose essentially between access and no support or going on the ssi program, which places extremely draconian limits on the income you can earn and what you can save.

people on sii cannot save more than $2,000 in assets. until we address these systemic -- the systemic poverty that forces people with disabilities, including autistic people and our families, to be held behind economically, we will not be able to address the disparities in the autism world. >> all of those who have come -- please note that there are some individuals in public office who share much of the hope and much of the concern and much of the anxiety that you have expressed. i thank you, mr. chairman, and yield back the balance of my time. >> thank you, mr. davis. the chairman recognizes the

capacity with which you were able to get back " into the record. the chair now recognizes mr. smith. >> thank you very much. i want to thank our panelists for their wonderful insight and incisive testimony. one of the issues that mr. badesch raises is the increased federal response to the needs of adults living with autism. i think that is echoed by other panelists. we have not done even a small amount of what we need to be doing to address that issue. i need to focus on older parents -- i think they have few parallels. i have known many autistic families and there is a burden that they carry that is so grossly under appreciated. so many of them do it with such grace and such dignity. great courage -- i think we need to recognize that.

what i'm finding, and we all find, is that many of those parents who have older children who are autistic and are no longer children, are adults, are facing a fear they may soon pass on what happens to their child and even the inability to deal with a young man who has strength. i hosted chuck close's daughter, who wrote a wonderful book going through her life. that is one concern she expressed. perhaps mr. badesch, if you could speak to it as well -- the idea of older parents aging. secondly, mr. wright, if you could speak to -- you laid out five specific pillars for a national strategy. we are in the second decade, obviously.

maybe you do not like the language, but my wife has a severe autoimmunity disease, a severe case of it. we talked about a cure -- we mean it. i understand you are coming from, but i think that is a way of razzing people. but mr. wright, if you could speak to the five. and talk about older parents and children. >> on the table now there are two service issues in front of congress. one of them is the able act, which is not confined to autistic children. that has 240 co-sponsors in the house and cannot get to the floor. but you only need 218 votes. so i would urge you to try to get that to the floor and get that passed.

that is something that can help families, especially working on aging children when the parents are able to put some money into that account. the second one is there is sitting out here now -- autism insurance for home or office or what ever in 32 states, covering 75% of the population of the country. that has to be brought back here to congress so the companies that are exempt from that, the largest companies in the country which occupy roughly half of the population -- we now have half the working population in the smaller companies protected, but not the larger ones. that has to be done by congress. that has to get on the table. in past years that was not difficult. it is a equity issue. is madras restore that is local has coverage. -- a small grocery store that is local has coverage, but a large store does not. to give families service opportunities and hopefully reduce their debt burden, and especially the planning issue. housing is an enormous issue.

we are going about it on a state-by-state basis. i do not know how to bring that to the federal bachmann at this point in time, but it -- government at this time, but it is going to be coordinated. >> i would mention one of the things with aging parents. we now have a large group of individuals in their 80's and 90's to our primary caretakers for an adult child who is 60 or 70. it is a major issue. sometimes when that person needs a caretaker, the caretaker -- they have to be put on a waiting list and it could be fiber six years, which makes no sense to us. the other issue is we need to do

a better job of working with as parents and providing more options. the lack of housing for adults, in particular with a community setting, until we start recognizing -- and again, this is a civil rights issue. housing authorities, when they confine disability services to having a handicap ramps they are falling short. those responsible need to make those services available -- it will make it easier for an adult with a child. >> i want to make a point about aging and services -- if we think about the inflection point, the increased rate of autism around 1990 or thereabouts, that was 22 years ago. what we are looking at, the leading edge of the epidemic is 22 years old. those kids are just now leaving the special education system.

they are well cared for in their families by and large, but as they age out we are facing a tsunami of unmet needs for services, desperate families, aging parents, and the nightmare of every parent, late at night when you are talking about these things, is what happens when i die? what is going to happen to my child when i die? the vast majority of these children cannot advocate for themselves or when they become adults will be disabled and dependent. they can be abused, taken advantage of and not care for. with often tragic outcome is. we have begun to see the wave of difficulties we are going to face if we have a rational -- if we have a rational policy, we need to face up for that. it will be a national problem.

>> the chair will indulge you -- >> quickly, you mentioned in the study, and i invited cdc to the township. they rolled out there was an environmental cause. you mentioned there is a black balling. could you elaborate on that? >> i could certainly provided for the record. we have all sorts of private conversations with scientists. we wish we had the resources -- i know bob is an advocate of environmental research, but we would love to see more from autism speaks. we do a modest amount. we're in contact with scientists. private conversations to have a scientist -- there are politically incorrect issues.

there are career consequences for doing a certain kind of study. there have been a ritual punishments of certain scientists out there, some very public, some more private. and there are innumerable examples of those. when the scientists said, let the scientists take care of that, it is not a self regulating process. in fact, the leaders of nih in force the orthodoxy of the scientific establishment. if you take on third real questions they are suppressed. we had many examples -- i could provide some more. >> thank you, mr. smith. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. >> mr. davis made a good point when he talked about the sam cooke song.

most of our lives, the change usually occurs at a time of tragedy or crisis. i want to redirect a little bet -- mr. mcgarry is here from mercyhurst. mercyhurst recognize a long time ago, the mid-1980s -- then in 2009 you piloted the aim program. would you share a little bit with us what you have been able to do -- you have presented internationally what mercyhurst is doing and some of the innovations you brought in. if you would tell us how you shared some of that information, how you are able to disseminate to other people. once you become aware, we can fix things. we had a chance to see that today. i admire what you have done, not only in your academic life but in your personal life. if you could share a little bit with the people mercyhurst here people is doing in the aim program.

>> two parts of the question. what are we doing to disseminate information? mercyhurst participated in pennsylvania -- we had the opportunity to have the inaugural conference on autism and higher education. mercyhurst and fiber six other institutions presented on some of -- and a five or six other institutions presented. 32 colleges or universities were represented in the audience to learn what they could do to start implementing some of the programming and things we are offering. what we are offering at mercyhurst is not rocket science. it is not a brand new treatment option. some folks have talked about applied behavioral analysis. we have collaborated with our program at mercyhurst. but we are doing a lot of trapping and looking at the students and saying, we have identified four main demands that we feel are very essential for our students in the academic setting as well as vocation.

their academic social progress, independence, social and emotional -- we try to track those things specifically because what we are finding is that our students are lacking or having difficulty on those domains. the probability they will be successful in the higher education setting and or a vocational setting drastically decreases. so we are going to continue to kind of work on that. another thing we are doing is there is a pure mentoring program. what we found as many of the students in our program have been in that mentoring partnerships but have never been the mentor. we recently implemented a peer mentoring program, but it will also be going to social service

agencies in erie that have other folks who have severe disabilities and going in as a mentor to them to say, i have accomplished something, i am a college student. people said i would never be here and i am -- i want to help you in what obstacles the need to face and get you through those obstacles. those of some of the things we're doing. >> we talked about employment opportunities. the idea that -- these are folks who can live a very productive life. they can be a big part of what we do as a country. i think it is the awareness. i really appreciate you coming here today in what you have done with your life. the more we become aware, the more we understand how to handle it, the more we can adapt and bring these people in.

there is a light at the end of the tunnel on this. you want to talk about being successful -- the 24% are actually employed now. a lot of adults cannot get work. a bit of that impact and what we could do to change that. i think there is a great opportunity. these people, to get up in the morning and they cannot wait. >> absolutely. i think our vocational and are internship -- unfortunately we have a stigma and are working with students to have autism -- some of the vocational opportunities presented to mercyhurst are far beyond the skills and caliber of weston's can achieve. -- what our students can achieve. we need to have a strong awareness as other panelists have said. autism is not necessarily an intellectual issue. if we can train and work on some of the social skills and executive functioning, they can fart succeed expectations and do some jobs much better than the rest of us. we need to train society to understand that and give the

students specific skills to accomplish them. >> would you share the conversation we had? the professor was giving them an assignment -- i thought that was absolutely phenomenal. you cannot tell a book by its cover. share that -- i thought that was really uplifting. >> i had in the aim program -- we sent a letter to every single faculty member stating that this student in your class is being supported by the asperger's initiative, and if you or that students need resources we are available. the faculty member contacted me on the second or third day of class and said, this student, i

explained an assignment that was worth 60% of the great in my course. -- grade of my course. the student looked at me and i am not sure if he understood a word of what i was saying. so can you work with him and help me work with them? that assignment was supposed to take 10 weeks. the student, the following tuesday, turned the assignment in and the professor said it was the most incredible piece of student graphic art he had scene in 25 years. we know there is a misrepresentation from what we think is being heard and what is being processed, and the caliber of students we are working with. >> thank you for being here and thank you for dedicating your life to making sure these people do have a light. thank you so much, and i yield back. >> as promised, this was a long and well worthwhile hearing. we learned a great many things that both we and the public or not aware of.

we did not have an opportunity to hear from witnesses who had genetic links that they could see in their own family. we certainly did not hear from the witnesses who are women recognized in their own lives that the under evaluation because of perhaps differences in behavior between men and women lead their to be a discrepancy in recognition and a discrepancy in perceived challenge to women versus man. we certainly learned that the state of utah has found a way to identify different or better or more than other states. we certainly learned that in fact a discovery system is not going to get us or any other country in the world to an accurate number or to seek out people we could help and help early. this and more will be things this committee will continue working on as part of the legacy of my predecessor. there is nothing we heard today that is off-limits for us to continue to explore.

this committee stands ready to take your additional comments and questions as promised. this is a c-span audience -- we may get additional letters. we will make sure to include those in the record whenever possible. i do not believe we covered every interest group, either with our witnesses or here today. because there are so many organizations involved that want to be heard, i would only ask all of you, when you work with other organizations or groups or individuals, that you explain to them that this committee will have a permanent staffing at least as long as i'm chair to try to make sure to continue to consolidate the information and get government to do its job more effectively, efficiently, and if at all possible, continue dealing with all aspects of this disease. with that, the committee stands adjourned.

>> today on "washington journal," norman ornstein gives a filibuster in the senate. steven stone of politico examines tax credits. "washington journal" is live starting at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. president obama travels to pennsylvania friday to talk about his plan to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. we'll be live from the manufacturing company in hatfield, pennsylvania at noon

eastern on c-span 3. >> the program began under one of the advisors to president franklin roosevelt, to document the conditions under which people were living. this was back when we didn't have television. we had radio, but a lot of places didn't have electricity so they could not listen to the radio broadcast to find out what was going on in other parts of the country. ray striker, who was an economist from columbia university, he is the head of this project and in 1939 when kodak introduced color film, they sent it to him to have his photographers try it out to see what they could do. kodak was trying to establish a new product in a new market and they wanted people who knew how

to use it effectively to try it out and public lissize it. >> america on the 1930's and 1940's comes to life as beverly shares some of the 1,600 colored photographs taken during the depression and world war ii. "american artifacts." >> the united nation's thursday voted in favor of palestinian statehood. the resolution upgraded the palestinian stat us to a non-member observer state. members approved by a more than 2/3 majority of the 193-member asemlybly. a vote of 138-9. susan rice said there are further obstacles. israel and the u.s. voted against the resolution.

the the chairperson of the executive committee of the palestinian liberation organization and president of the palestinian authority. [applause]

[applause] >> the poverty general assembly. secretary general, ladies and gentlemen.

palestine comes today to the united nations general assembly at the time it is still tending to its wounds and -- beloved martyrs of children, women and men who have fallen victims to the latest israeli aggression, still searches for remnants of life turned ruins of homes strailed by israeli bombs on the gaza strip wiping out entire families. men, women and children along with their dreams, their hopes, their future and their longing to live an ordinary life and to live in freedom and peace. palestine comes today to the

general assembly because it believes in peace. and because its people have proven -- are in desperate need of it. palestine comes today to this prestigious international forum reaffirming our conviction that the community now stands before the last chance to save the two-state solution. palestine comes to you today at a defining moment regionally and internationally in order to reaffirm its preansd to try to protect the -- presence and to try to protect the possibility and the foundations of a just peace that is deeply hopeful in

our region. mr. president and ladies and gentlemen. israeli aggression against our people in the gsa strip has confirmed -- gaza strip, has confirmed once again, the pressing need to end israeli occupation and for people to -- the freedom and incidence. -- independence. this aggression confirms the israeli government's adherence to occupation, brute force and war. towards the palestinian people and to its peace. that is why we are here today. i say with a great deal of sorrow, there was certainly no

one in the world that required than palestinian children lose their lives in order to reaffirm -- there wases no need for thousands of deadly raids and tons of explosives for the -- there is an occupation that must come to an end and that there are people that must be liberated. and there was no need for a new, devastating war in order for us to be aware of the absence of peace. that is why we are here today. plp president, ladies and gentlemen, -- mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, the palestinian people -- uncovered from the ashes in 1948, which was intended to distinguish

their being and to expel them in order to -- and to raise their presence, which was rooted in the depth of their plan and the depth of history. and there was dark days when hundreds of thousands of palestinians were torn from their homes. thrown from their beautiful, embracing, prosperous country to refugee camps. in one of the most dreadful campaigns of ethnic cleansing in modern history. in those dark days, our people looked to the united nations as a beacon of hope. and appeal for ending the

unjustice, the realization -- those people still believe in this and continue to wait. that's why we're here today. ladies and gentlemen, in the course of a long national -- our people have always tried to ensure harmony and conform ty towards the means of their struggle and international law and -- of the era in accordance with -- changes and people have tried not to -- their highest -- small values and ability for survival, steadfastness, creativity despite the horrors that befell them and continue to befall them today as a consequence of -- and its

horrors. despite enormity and -- liberation organization, the sole legitimate representative of the palestinian people and the constant leader of the revolution has consistently striveed achieve this harmony and authority on the palestinian national council decided to pursue the palestinian peace initiative and adopted the declaration of independence which was based on the solution, adopted by your oldest buddy. it was, in fact, undertaking under the leadership of the late president yasser arafat, an historic, difficult and courageous decision that defines

the requirements that turned the page on more aggression and occupation. yes, we have the courage an responsibility to make a right decision, to protect the interests of our people and to serve our -- to international -- and a decision which in the same year was supported and -- by this high body that is meeting today. ladies and gentlemen, we have heard and you too have heard specifically over the past month, the insessent flood of

israeli threats in response to peaceful, diplomatic -- for palestine -- non-member observers to the united nations and you have surely witnessed some of these threats have been carried out in a bar rafaeliic and horrific -- barbaric and horrific manner. we have not heard one word from any israeli official expressing any sincere concern to save the peace process. on the contrary, people have witnessed and continue to witness an unprecedented -- of military assault, the block aid, activities, ethnic cleansing.

particularly in occupied east -- attacked by settlers. the israeli occupation has become synonymous with -- occupation which institution alliesing racism and -- for the israeli government to blatantly continue with this aggression policy stems from its conviction that it is above the international law and that israel's immunity from accountability and consequences, this belief, unfortunately, is -- by the failure of some to

condemn and demand the ceasation of violations and crimes and by position that equate the victim and the execution. the moment has arrived. enough of aggression. settlements. occupation. this is why we are here now. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, we did not come here seeking to delimmingtize a state established years ago and that is israel. we came to affirm the legitimacy of a state that must now achieve

its independence and that is palestine. [applause] we did not come here top add further complications to the peace process, which israel's -- have turned into intensive care unit rather, we came to launch a final serious attempt. our endeavor is -- terminating what there is of the negotiations process. trying to breathe new life into the negotiations and establishing a foundation based on all the terms of the relevant international resolutions. in order for the negotiations to

succeed, ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of the palestine liberation organization, i say we will not give up. we will not tire. and our determination wage and however, above all, after off, our people will not relinquish their international rights as defined by the united nations resolutions and those people throwing the right to defend themselves against aggression and occupation. and they will continue their peaceful resistance. this is what we can do. to continue -- and will continue

to build on their land and they will -- the division. we will accept no less than -- alongside the state of israel and the solution for the refugee issue on the basis of the resolution. arab peace initiative. [applause] i don't think that this is terrorism. that we are pursuing in the united nations. the window of opportunity is narrowing and time is quickly

running out. the rope of patience is shortening. hope is withering. innocent lives that have been taken by israeli bomb. most of the martyrs were women and children including four members of one family in gaza. it is a painful reminder to the world that this racist occupation is making the two-state solution and the prospect for realizing peace a very difficult choice, if not impossible. it is time for action. the moment to move forward.

that is why we are here today. [applause] mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, the world is being asked today to undertake and answer a specific question -- is there a surplus people in our region? tell us. the world must see if we are a surplus people or if there is a state that is likely that must be embodied as palestine? the world is being asked to undertake a significant step in rectifying the unprecedented historic injustice inflicted on the palestinian people since

1948. every voice supporting our endeavor today is the most valuable voice of courage. [applause] every state that is in support of palestine's request has given moral support for freedom and the rights of people and international law and peace. your support for our endeavor today sends a promising message to millions of palestinians and in the refugee camps and to the homeland and to the prisoners longing for freedom in

israeli prisons. there is a reason to be hopeful. that the peoples of the world do not accept the occupation. this is why we are here today. [applause] your support for our endeavor today gives a reason for hope to a people besieged by a racist colonial occupation. in a state of paralysis, some are striving to impose on the international community, your support, ladies and gentlemen,

will bring hope to our people that they are not alone. the international law will never be a losing proposition. i come here today to acquire nonmembership status for palestine in the united nations will reaffirm that palestine will always adhere to and respect the charter and resolutions of the united nations and international law and uphold the quality of civil liberties and protect the rights of women. this is what we are pledging today, as we promised our friends. and for our brothers and sisters, we will continue to

consult with them upon the approval of our request to update palestine's status. we will act responsibly. we will work to strengthen corporation with the countries and peoples of the world for the sake of a just peace. ladies and gentlemen, 65 years ago on this day, the united nations general assembly adopted a resolution which said the land of historic palestine into two states and became the birth certificate for israel. 65 years later on the same day which an esteemed body has delegated an international day of solidarity for the

palestinian people stands before a moral duty which it must not he is taillight to undertake -- hesitate to undertake and it cannot endure a further delay. the chance for peace is urgent. it cannot be postponed. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, the united nations general assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the state of palestine. [applause]

this is why we are here today. it is our hope, ladies and gentlemen, the hope in god and in you. thank you and peace be upon you. [applause] >> i thank chairman of the

executive committee of the palestinian liberation organization. i now give the floor to the distinguished representative of israel. [applause] >> mr. president, today i stand before you tall and proud because i represent the world's one and only jewish state. a state built in the jewish people's ancient homeland with it's eternal capital jerusalem as its beating heart. we are a nation with the deeper roots in the past and bright hopes for the future. we are a nation that values

idealism but act with pragmatism. israel is a nation that never hesitate to defend itself, but will always extend its hand for peace. peace is a value of society. seek peace and pursue it. peace fills our heart and poetry. it is taught in our schools and every israeli leaders since israel was established 60 years ago. israel's declaration of independence states we extend our hand to all neighboring states and their people in an offer of peace and good neighborness. we will establish bonds of cooperation and mutual health.

this week was the 35th anniversary of anwar sadat's historic visit to jerusalem. in a speech before the visit, he famously stood in the egyptian parliament in cairo and stated that he would go, "to the ends of the earth to make peace with israel. 3 the prime minister at that time, begin said this about the resolution that you have vowed to vote on. he said he was prepared to live in peace with a palestinian state, but for peace to endure, israel's security must be protected. the palestinians must recognize the jewish state and the